Empath laughed as he watched Gargamel's second failure in finding the Smurfs ending in embarrassment. "It looks like Gargamel would never get a break when it comes to catching Smurfs in that scenario, Narrator."
"Fortunately, he did still had no idea where our village was, Empath," Narrator said. "And though he had smurfed his way here on various occasions, he would end up smurfing home and then getting lost smurfing his way back here again. It's just simply how it smurfs when it comes to being unlike ourselves trying to smurf their way to a place that isn't meant for them to smurf."
"Didn't Papa Smurf try to create an invisibility shield around the village so that Gargamel wouldn't be able to see the village even if he found his way here?" Empath asked.
"About five years ago, yes," Narrator answered. "He was smurfing a formula using glowberries, but there was this baby dragon who loved glowberries so much that he kept smurfing them wherever and whenever they appeared. We were lucky to be able to find more when Gargamel captured the baby dragon and tried to smurf a hot air balloon to smurf our village from above."
"At least with Gargamel out of the forest, we won't have to worry about him finding the Smurf Village anymore," Empath said.
"That doesn't mean there won't be others who will try for their own evil purposes, Empath," Narrator said. "But I have said enough. This is Handy's story, and I think I should let him do the smurfing of it."
"Thank you, Narrator," Handy said. "In the meantime, the Smurfs at Smurf Paradise were having the time of their lives...wild parties in the evenings, and quiet mornings where Smurfs could just smurf in and not be bothered. Some were taking it rather easy, just smurfing on floats in the water and waiting for something to smurf up. Others were smurfing for the rare adventure, like those who were trying to take Smurfette out on the lake alone for a trip. Vanity was smurfing off his latest fashion designs, which Smurfette really liked a lot, and which made the other Smurfs jealous. Of course, Brainy was trying to get others to smurf with him on a nature walk to smurf the flora and fauna to get a better understanding of their surroundings...you know, his attempts of trying to raise the culture at Smurf Paradise. As usual, nobody was interested and Brainy was not happy."
"This smurf sees that a Smurf has gotten his oar stuck in mud, and now he fell into the mud trying to get the oar out," Empath commented, seeing that particular part of Handy's story taking place.
Handy laughed. "What was really amusing was what when others had smurfed that Smurf in the mud, he was saying that he purposely smurfed himself in the mud because he heard that mud is very smurf for the skin. Other Smurfs heard about this and decided to smurf over there to smurf mud baths."
"Vanity's beauty advice is very true, Handy," Empath said. "Sometimes this smurf does feel all comfortable being covered in mud, even when it isn't this smurf's intention to be covered in mud."
"In short, everybody at Smurf Paradise was delighted about their vacation," Handy said. "It's just that, for some Smurfs, it no longer was the place that they once remembered."
"Painter and Poet," Empath said, seeing them on the lake together in a boat, having to endure listening to the others singing and talking and just generally making noise. "This smurf can understand how they would feel at this point."
"Remember, Painter, that night when he silently smurfened to..." Poet began to speak.
"Those days are but a memory now, mon frere," Painter said, sounding very disappointed.
"Very true indeed, Painter," Poet said as he now rowed the boat toward the shore to get away from the noise on the lake. "It just isn't like it used to be, when it was just us and Handy! All the excitement had simply smurfed my inspiration away!"
"I do not feel like painting anything around here anymore, Poet," Painter said. "Besides, with all these constructions, the most beautiful landscapes are now smurfed."
"You know, I feel like I want to resmurf to the peace and quiet of the Smurf Village," Poet said as he pulled the boat to shore and he and Painter hopped out. "What about you, Painter?"
"Mais bien sūr," Painter said. "I couldn't agree more on smurfing our leave of this place!"
But as Painter and Poet were preparing to leave, Empath saw that the Smurfs left in the Smurf Village were getting anxious. Even Tapper felt like he was getting on edge, which was unusual for him. And Duncan himself didn't like having to maintain order when Hefty wasn't around to do his job as Papa Smurf's work supervisor.
"When can we leave for Smurf Paradise, Papa Smurf?" one Smurf was asking him as he, Tapper, and Duncan were passing by Greedy's kitchen, with Culinary trying to do Greedy's job.
"Yeah, this smurfy weather isn't going to smurf like this forever," another Smurf said.
"You must wait for the first group to resmurf before I can send you there," Papa Smurf said. "Unfortunately, I'm not hearing news of any Smurfs returning."
"Well, I'm tired of the waiting, Papa Smurf," Culinary said as he emerged from the kitchen. "I want to smurf my vacation from this place now."
"Great Smurfiny Crickets, my good fellow Culinary," Tapper said. "Papa Smurf is trying to smurf the best he can with what he has left to smurf the village. Why can't you at least let him smurf his job?"
"I'm sorry if I'm not blessed with the patience that you smurf, being Papa Smurf's conscience," Culinary said. "I have smurfed out of ideas for what to smurf for your meals, and I can't smurf anymore with the Smurfs who are trying to smurf Farmer Smurf's job. I'm smurfing you, if those Smurfs are not smurfing back here anytime soon, I'm smurfing everything and smurfing out of here."
"Nobody's smurfing anywhere unless Papa Smurf says so, laddie," Duncan said.
"Don't smurf that tone with me, Highlander," Culinary said. "I'm not some dumb sheep that you can wrestle to the smurf."
"So help me Smurf, I would be smurfing you into sausage right this instant if it weren't for Papa Smurf smurfing here right now," Duncan said.
"Just you try smurfing that with me, Gutsy Smurf," Culinary said, pulling out a knife.
"THE NAME IS DUNCAN, NOT GUTSY," Duncan shouted.
"HOLD IT!" Papa Smurf yelled, breaking up the argument. "You should know, Culinary, that I'm tired, too...tired of hearing how everything has smurfed wrong in the village since this whole thing has started. So this is what I have decided right here and now...we will all smurf a vacation from here."
"All of us? Smurf a vacation?" Tapper asked. "Great Smurfiny Crickets, Papa Smurf, have you gone daft?"
"I didn't think he would have the smurfs to even smurf that, Tapper," Duncan said.
"I think it is the fair and equitable solution for all of us, Tapper," Papa Smurf said. "And I for one feel smurfy to say it. I want you all to tell your fellow Smurfs to pack your smurfs and get smurfing for Smurf Paradise immediately."
"Hurray!" Culinary Smurf shouted. "Long live Papa Smurf!"
The other Smurfs cheered as they heard the news, that Papa Smurf is ordering every Smurf to pack their bags and head out for Smurf Paradise. They quickly rushed into their houses and filled their backpacks with the essentials that they were going to take with them. Even Tapper and Duncan went to get their things, which made Duncan feel so excited and Tapper at least relieved to see the situation resolved.
However, Empath saw that as the Smurfs were preparing to leave the village, Poet and Painter had now arrived in it. "What's smurfing on?" Poet asked. "They're all leaving the village?"
"Sacre bleu! We've just smurfed back here!" Painter said as he and Poet watched the Smurfs head off toward the lake.
"Greetings, my good fellow Smurfs. How was it up in the lake?" Tapper asked as he was ready to pass by them.
"Oh, you should smurf up there for yourself to see it, Tapper," Poet said. "We certainly had a very smurfy time up there."
"Mon ami, you will not be disappointed," Painter added.
"Aye, I'm sure that the boy will smurf his rest up there, laddies, and I can't wait to take a smurf at what you've been smurfing up there," Duncan said as he joined Tapper.
"That I will be certain of, Duncan," Tapper said, realizing he needed to get going. "I'll smurf the both of you later!"
After Tapper and Duncan passed by, Painter and Poet saw Papa Smurf with his bag, also heading in the same direction. "Ah, it's so good that you two finally returned," he said as he saw the two Smurfs that arrived. "Now you can smurf over the village while we are away."
"Uh...if that is what you wish, Papa Smurf," Painter said.
"I'm glad that you agree, Painter," Papa Smurf said. "Just remember that if anything happens, you can smurf me about it at Smurf Paradise."
And after Papa Smurf was gone, Poet and Painter saw that the village was empty and quiet. "At least things around here will be peaceful," Poet commented.
"Ah, what a relief!" Painter exhaled. "I can smurf myself a little nap! I hear that Handy has smurfed himself a very comfortable bed..."
"Well, go ahead and try it out, Painter," Poet suggested. "We're the guardians of this village! We can smurf whatever we want here!"
"Absolument!" Painter exclaimed as he and Poet removed their backpacks.
"And so Papa Smurf got up there ahead of the other Smurfs by taking Feathers with him to smurf here, Empath," Handy said. "He smurfed me that the other Smurfs were coming, so that would smurf me some time to prepare things. Brainy allowed Papa Smurf to have his hut for his own private smurf. But now I had a big problem on my smurfs: how could I accomodate having a hundred Smurfs at Smurf Paradise at the same time."
"You obviously didn't think that it would ever come to having the whole village come to this place to enjoy it for themselves," Empath commented.
"I only wished that I did, Empath," Handy said. "And that really made things more difficult and challenging. I had to smurf some drastic measures so that everybody could enjoy a vacation up there."
As Empath watched, he saw that three Smurfs were now crowded into the same hut, sleeping on a bunkbed. The one on the topmost bunk was Grouchy, and as much as he didn't like having to share a hut with two other Smurfs, there were other things that he didn't like. At night he was having trouble trying to get to sleep.
"This hut is so hot," he grumbled, swatting at the mosquitoes that were flitting around him near the roof. "And these mosquitoes are driving me smurfy."
"Hey, Grouchy, stop smurfing up there...you're making the bed smurf," the Smurf on the bunk below him shouted.
"Well, excuse me for smurfing," Grouchy responded.
"Why don't you two smurf it quiet?" the Smurf on the lowest bunk said. "I'm trying to smurf some sleep here!"
"ALL RIGHT!" Grouchy and the Smurf below him shouted.
By morning, the three Smurfs in the hut looked like they barely got any sleep. "I hate not smurfing enough sleep," Grouchy said as he was already in his swim briefs and decided to head for the swimming pool to wake himself up. But when he got there, he saw that the pool was so full of Smurfs, it looked less like a swimming pool and more like a Smurf stew.
"I hate crowded smurfing pools," Grouchy muttered. "I think I'll smurf myself a boat and smurf away from the other Smurfs for awhile."
He headed over to where the boats were parked. But then Courier Smurf intercepted him. "I'm afraid you'll have to smurf a reservation here, Grouchy," he said as he looked at his clipboard to see what kind of arrangement he could make for Grouchy. "Let's see...I can smurf you down for the use of a boat for tomorrow night."
"I hate reservations," Grouchy said as he headed away from the boats. He was really beginning to hate this vacation. He passed by the dining commons and decided to take a look at what's on the menu for the day.
"Nettle soup...mashed turnip...horse smurf salad," Grouchy read aloud. "What kind of menu is this?"
"Do you understand that or not?" a Smurf in a servant's vest and chef's hat said, sounding very angry. "With all the meals we have to smurf for all you Smurfs, we don't have enough supplies."
"And don't have a smurf about it, Grouchy," another Smurf in a vest said, showing his hands all covered in thorns. "It's not you who has to smurf up the nettle soup."
"I hate your menu," Grouchy shouted before he walked off.
"Needless to say, Empath, things weren't very smurfy at Smurf Paradise," Narrator said as he cut into the story once more. "But we would soon have an unsmurfy surprise waiting for us when we resmurfed home. And that unsmurfy surprise had only one name..."
"Gargamel, the evil wizard," Empath said, finishing Narrator's thought with the same dramatic intonation.
"You're very good, Empath," Narrator said as a compliment. "Maybe you should smurf over my job as the narrator."
"That would be an interesting venture, given your unique...talents and abilities, Narrator," Empath said. "For now, let's see where he comes into the picture again."
As Empath watched Narrator tell his part of the story, he saw Azrael in Gargamel's lair, sniffing as if he now had a bad cold.
"Aaah, my poor little Azrael," Gargamel said, trying to sound sympathetic as he approached the cat sitting on a chair. "I know that you've gotten a terrible cold from your bath in the water." Then suddenly he pulled out the bellows. "But that should serve you right! You've played me for a fool for far too long!"
Azrael barely had time to react when his master started spraying him with the magic powder again.
"This time I'll give you a triple dose! That will help clear up your nose!" Gargamel said as he now sprayed so much of the magic powder it was making both him and his cat sneeze. But this time the magic powder didn't make any change in Azrael.
Gargamel put a leash on Azrael and dragged him out into the forest. "Come along, you worthless beast! You'll be able to smell again once we're on the hunt!"
After a while of searching in the forest, Gargamel realized that his cat couldn't smell anything, not even the faint scent of a Smurf. But then his own nose picked up a scent in the air. "Apparently my smelling is better than yours," he said to Azrael as he followed the scent.
It led him to a large rock that he saw a small shadow from behind it. "That shadow is moving, Azrael," he said quietly. "That can only mean a Smurf is nearby."
He quietly sneaked his way around the rock and then swooped the net over what caused the shadow, thinking he has captured a Smurf. And then he saw what really caused the small shadow. It was the foot of a grizzly bear, and he was angry.
"Oh, excuse me," Gargamel said humbly. "I must have made a terrible mistake!"
The bear growled and now got up to chase after the evil wizard. He ran with his cat Azrael through the whole forest, trying to get the bear off his trail. He managed to elude him for a while, but then he saw the bear coming again. There was only one thing left for him to do.
"Quick, Azrael, let's climb up the tree," Gargamel said as he and his cat quickly scurried up and hid themselves in the canopy of the tree, watching fearfully as the bear came closer. And then the bear just went by them, not noticing that the prey was up in the tree hiding from him. He sighed with relief.
"That monstrous bear has chased us through half of the forest," Gargamel said to Azrael. "I don't even know where we are...now..."
And then he saw from the canopy of the tree where he was now. "The Smurf Village! We've found it, Azrael! That stupid bear has chased us all the way here. Those rotten little Smurfs are as good as mine now."
He leaped down from the tree and took a thick branch with him to use as a club as he entered the village, anticipating what he was going to do to the Smurfs. But then he saw that the whole village was now empty.
"Oh, curses, Azrael," Gargamel growled. "I finally reach the village, and there's not a single Smurf here!"
Just then, Painter and Poet were coming in from the forest, carrying baskets full of smurfberries they have collected. "Oh la la, these are the most smurflicious smurfberries I have ever smurfed," Painter said as he was eating a handful.
"And the great part about it is that we have two baskets of smurfberries all to ourselves, Painter," Poet said.
Soon they heard a familar voice up ahead. "I swear to you, Azrael, that I will not leave this village empty-handed."
Painter and Poet realized who that voice belonged to. "GARGAMEL!" they both gasped. They ducked behind a tree and watched as Gargamel crossed through the village, unable to find the Smurfs in it.
"If those Smurfs went somewhere, they are certain to return here eventually," Gargamel said. "We might as well stay around here and wait for them as long as we need to. I would certainly love to be here for their big welcome home, because this will be their last homecoming party...before they become permanent residents in my laboratory!" He and Azrael both laughed at that particular thought.
"Sacre bleu! This is a catasmurphe!" Painter said.
"We need to warn Papa Smurf and the others about this right away!" Poet said.
Meanwhile, Papa Smurf was having the time of his life sailing with Handy on his sailboat made of reeds. He felt just as giddy as Baby Smurf when they both rode swiftly across the waters, feeling the wind on their faces.
"Now this is a sport, Handy!" Papa Smurf said, very pleased. "Everything about this place is just what I have imagined it to be from all the descriptions Poet and Painter had smurfed."
"You should have smurfed the place before any of us smurfed up here, Papa Smurf," Handy said. "What you're smurfing now is only half as beautiful as it was."
"It's still beautiful just the same, Handy," Papa Smurf said. "Let's smurf ourselves to shore and smurf something to eat. I don't want to miss the entertainment that's smurfing on at the bandstand."
"Right away, Papa Smurf," Handy said as he steered the sailboat to the shore. As they reached the shore, Papa Smurf saw Painter and Poet racing to meet with him.
"Painter! Poet! What's wrong?" Papa Smurf asked.
"Papa Smurf, Gargamel has smurfed his way to the village, and he won't leave without smurfing for us to return," Poet said.
"Wait a minute...how did Gargamel even smurf his way to the village?" Papa Smurf asked.
"Ne sait pas, Papa Smurf," Painter said. "All we know is that he's now smurfing near the village and waiting for us to return so he could smurf us."
"That's just what I thought he would smurf," Papa Smurf said, pondering the situation. "Fortunately, all of us are smurf and sound here at Smurf Paradise." He then turned to Handy. "If it weren't for you and your idea for this place, we wouldn't have escaped this tragedy. Thanks to Smurf Paradise, the village was abandoned long before Gargamel has ever smurfed it!"
"What? Gargamel smurfed the village?" Courier said, overhearing the conversation between Papa Smurf and Handy as he was monitoring the boats. "I've got to smurf the others!"
Meanwhile, a group of Smurfs were leaving the dining commons, clutching their stomachs and sticking out their tongues. Empath could sense from all the reactions that they didn't enjoy their meal.
"This vacation is totally for the smurfs," one Smurf said. "We eat badly, we sleep badly, we smurf for miles just to get to the smurfing..."
"This is one place I won't be smurfing in for very long," the other Smurf said, interrupting the first.
"Smurfs! Be careful! Gargamel has just smurfed our village!" Courier shouted as he raced through the entire Smurf Paradise to warn the others.
The Smurfs reacted as if in a panic. They all raced toward Papa Smurf, pestering him with so many questions about what they're going to do.
"Calm down, my little Smurfs," Papa Smurf commanded. "There is no need to panic! It's true that Gargamel has smurfed his way to the village, but he hasn't destroyed it yet. He's only waiting for us to return so he could smurf us there. But the one thing we will not let him do is smurf us off-guard. So please be patient. We will find a way to smurf him away from the village."
"Right now nobody's going to leave this place," Duncan said, trying to help out. "Papa will smurf the village tomorrow and see what that wizard is smurfing."
Tapper watched as the Smurfs are busy talking among themselves, fearing what Gargamel is going to do and what he might already be doing in their village. "Nobody's going to have a peace of smurf as long as they know Gargamel is smurfing in wait for us, Papa Smurf," he said.
"Then we'll need something to distract their attention," Papa Smurf said. He then turned to Handy. "We're going to need some entertainment to smurf everybody's mind off the matter at smurf."
Handy nodded. "I'll go get Jokey Smurf!"
That night, every Smurf gathered around the bandstand to hear Jokey's stand-up routine. "Okay, this joke is certainly going to have you smurfing on the floor," he said. "There's this story of a Smurf who went nuts smurfing, and when he resmurfed to the village..."
"The village! Oh, oh, our poor beautiful little village!" Smurfette said aloud, interrupting the joke, as she shed a tear.
"I want to go home!" another Smurf said as he began to weep.
And soon almost every Smurf in the audience was crying their eyes out, wishing they could return home to the Smurf Village. Even Jokey was in tears.
Papa Smurf simply slapped his forehead in frustration.